I'm new to pickleball but have played tennis for over 45 years. That little hop that you do is called the split step in tennis. In any racquet sport, that's a subtle but really important thing to incorporate. It keeps you agile and moving all the time instead of getting caught flat footed. It most importantly allows you to dash left or right if the ball is banged out of reach. You'll be able to get to the ball that much quicker. Great little tutorial. Thank you for posting.
This is a great instructional video! A number of my intermediate player friends know the basic shots, but they don’t understand the positioning/strategy. I’m going to share this with all of them. Keep up the good work!
That was very well taught / explained. I've seen dozens of these videos, but i like the way you keep it simple an not over-explained or complicated. Coming from 20+ years of tennis and now starting pickleball I must say, "Well done video my friend."!!!👍
Love this video and his no-nonsense explanations! I've watched this at least 10x. I have implemented each of these a little at a time. One thing that has really helped me is to stay calm and relaxed during play.
@@sunsioux444- basically hit/swing level. How you approach the ball both with footwork and swing, regarding a typical groundstroke, will determine how much topspin. Unless your right at the kitchen and the ball is over shoulder high, no need to hit down.
Hi Barrett. Happy New Year. I’m a beginner Pickleball player. I’ve been playing for 2 months. Ive been watching a lot of Pickleball videos to help me improve. I must say you were outstanding in this video. The information/corrections you share were very clear. I can’t wait to get on the court and implement the things that I heard, saw & wrote down.😀 Thank you very much.😀
I love the talk about the footwork and how it relates to imagined control of what is going on with the ball on the other side of the court. That is very key! Thank you!
yeah the little hop {tennis} before swinging it does improve your foot work.may seem silly BUT it gives you more of a athletic stance vs standing stright up. THANKS.
Instructions for all of us. Right to the point. Everything I saw I experience on a daily basis. Thanks for the video and thanks for the instruction. Footwork is a must.
VERY EXCELLENT instructional video! I love how you explain and demonstrate the strategies and give reasons why we should or should not do the actions demonstrated. Hopefully I can remember everything you say here and apply it to my next game. I play with a lot of bangers, and their frenzy becomes contagious and I get sucked into THEIR frenzy as well. I definitely want to incorporate your response to bangers! Thank you for your very well-done video! You're the best instructor I've ever seen! ❤️
Ditto! I plan to practice with the video playing in my wireless earphones until I master these techniques. Only 2 999 more times to go. Would like more hints on racket gripping for flat positioning, follow through.
You give such SOLID advice! There is always some part of my game that feels like it needs a revisit of tuning. I cycle through these various issues about three times a year it seems. Lately it has all been about the footwork especially at the baseline. Great pointers!
Excellent instruction! So glad I found this video. Thank you for the clear direction. I have been playing for 4 months, and am doing well, and gotten a lot of instruction from the 3.5-4.0 crowd. But it hasn't been this clear. One production note as a videographer/photographer: Move your stuff from against the fence and put them elsewhere so they don't clutter up your scene. 😁
Interesting that you mentioned footwork as number 1. I feel the same about my game. My footwork is decent but still too often I feel “planted” stretching and lunging for shots I should have moved to address. I need to hop more or something to keep my feet moving.
Yes, that is huge. “Feet first; swing later” has been my mantra for years now. It’s a good thing you notice that because now you’ll be able to put all that into practice
We were being coached this week on how to move up from the baseline to the kitchen but not the reason behind it , thank you so much , you are very clear and precise , great instructor
Thanks. I applied the hitting your 3rd shot at 50% less force today and made fewer unforced errors. Next concept for me is to not let the ball get behind me. Still have trouble putting the racket out front to block to prevent balls from being put in the middle. Thanks for all the reminders.
Well done...your instruction is simple( in a very good way) and to the point. So easy to understand and I do make all these mistakes, thanks for explaining how to fix them. Excellent!!
Very good explanation. Taking the ball at the highest possible point allows for the player more margin of error and based on physics will be coming from a higher trajectory. Which means even over a short distance the ball has more distance to travel and more time to accelerate. The faster the shot, the less time the opponent has to react even for a pickleball, that is slower compared to other racquet/paddle sports
Great instruction! I can’t wait for my next game to work on my foot work. I catch myself moving and hitting the ball at the same time and it does not always work out so well.
great pointers and many things to work on in my own game. Love the comment about not overworking your swing against bangers and keeping things short and simple. You were in a much better and calmer posture to respond to the return.
Great video! I laugh inside when players duff a shot and then look at their paddle. The paddle is the last point in a chain of what is considered a good shot. Every good shot starts with footwork, body positioning and balance. Fix the footwork and the actual hitting the ball gets consistent which leads to less errors.
Definitely going to review this before my next week play. I’m so intimidated with bangers and this video really gives me great suggestions on dealing with that type of play. Thank you!
You can vary your blocks too as you improve. The flat blocks you're demonstrating sit up high and land right in the transition zone. The next ball from a banger will be harder, faster and directly at you. Try slice blocks that stay low or blocks with a looser grip and NO swing that land in the kitchen or near the kitchen line. One-dimensional bangers hate those as it forces them into a kitchen battle.
Regarding blocking and not trying to do so much... once you get better, you then have to understand that you need to throw that advice out, and you have to attack in firefights, or you will just be in defensive mode in perpetuity. Beginners/intermetiates should know that this advice is for them, right now, but as you get better at these volley battles, you need to start top-rolling and punching the volley wars.
Hey, nice job, I really enjoyed this video and took some notes. I see you are playing with the Gearbox ProPower and I have the same! Thanks for sharing
I so appreciate your videos! How do I limit the amount of "antsy" footwork at the kitchen line? I sometimes find myself inadvertently drifting forward into the kitchen at times.
Why do people feel they have the right to (anonymously) be so negative and critical? Do you not remember the old adage, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”?
I like watching all these instructional videos and I do try to use much of what they are teaching but I would say that I almost never play games where the shots played seem as soft as the shots in these videos. Just in my short 2.5 years of playing it seems that much of what I was taught in lessons has changed, the game is evolving as so many people want to play like the pros, a hard hitting, fast and topspin oriented power game. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s my observation lately.
It's evolving quickly as pros improve, paddle technology improves and more high level tennis players enter the sport. That together forces improvement throughout all the levels.
@@sbinsdca I just purchased a new raw carbon paddle on a Black Friday sale. I’ve played about 10-12 hours with it so far and I would say I can truly feel the difference but not all good. Although I try to play with control first and power second (unlike many folks that I play with), my technique and skills need further improvement to get the most out of the technology. Unfortunately the tech enhances both the good and the bad. I’ll just keep working on the control and soft game and let the power grow organically.
As a tennis player having to hit a 3rd shot drop kills me. I serve, they return and I go deep with pace on a ball down the middle that barely gets over the net. Two Intermediate players watch it go right between them.
I'm new to the game (three group lessons in)...but isn't the goal to win the point? Here it seems like you're suppose to keep the rally going as long as possible.
On the Block Bangers section you showed "paddle down" then demoed every shot paddle up. LOL ...p.s. those where not bangs! not even close...Still I enjoyed your video and gave it a thumbs up.
barrett, how do you hit a "soft high ball" to your back hand with power and effectiveness? it's easy for forehand. but, i have such an issue with soft high balls to my back hand side?????? help.
You either need to do a backhand 1h slap, or you need to learn the 2h backhand volley. This will depend on how high the ball goes. If it's too high, then it's probably best to go 1h. Considering your background, start with the 2h volley. Ball machine at baseline, you at kitchen line, drill that over and over.
I switched to the control version. I may put out a short video about this, but as usual, I don't take paddles too seriously. So currently I'm on the Power Control Fusion.
Awesome tips! I play with bangers who hit ball as hard as possible every shot. Unfortunately I am 5 feet tall and when a 6 foot banger smashes ball at me at kitchen it is coming at my face! Any suggestions for short people?
Don’t tee the ball up so high to them because this places the ball in their kill zone…. Hit the ball low and to the opponents feet or angled low, out wide.
Hops are great or you’ll get flat footed and then you’re screwed. Ask any linebacker that’s late to the party Good video, god knows I need to be better
Simply blocking a banger's drive is exactly why bangers bang - they get a return that's easy to handle, giving them a great advantage for their next shot.
You are not angling the paddle down at all! Watch up to 12:54 block bangers. Your psddle face is always up. You may be doing some cutting at the same time but that ball is not going down off it either. It pops up. And that is a kill shot for the opponent.
His FH looks SW, even dinking. BH continental. Coming from tennis, I use the same two grips FH and BH. Serving also SW. Overheads continental. I tried switching to a continental FH at the kitchen but the speedups (basically a FH) are SW. Couldn't make the speedups or flicks work using a continental grip. SW FH dinks are fine and makes topspin FH dinking + speedups easier.
Ah yes, few things here: I mention halfway through that segment that the shots were going a bit high, thus I had to angle the paddle down a bit more. Also, I should have been more clear on this, but it's not always going to be perfect. This is especially the case for any kind of drive that ends up curving below the height of the net. Naturally, your face will have to be open a bit for those types of drives. With bangers, the ball is typically going to hit higher up on your body because the velocity isn't giving gravity time to bring it down, thus this specific technique. But if you're dealing with drives that have more topspin, but less speed, then that's a different story and your face may need to be a bit more open to clear the net. Those can be tougher to deal with depending on who's on the other side of the net.
If you catch the ball that deep at the kitchen line, assuming you're able to get it back over the net and low enough not to be put away, you'll be off balance after the shot. Recognize the depth sooner and pivot or back up a half step.
I see you open your paddle face a bit on balls the just clear the net, use a neutral face on slightly higher balls and a slightly closed face for any ball that's higher.....
I’m confused. When you are dinking back and forth, both doing the same thing, how are you loosing, or winning at that time? You gave advise for each situation, but I can’t tell why one is winning.
I vehemently disagree with how you block bangers. In the video, you keep returning a ball that bounces in front of the banger who is going to bang it right back, again and again. The odds are not in your favor in that rally. If you want to return the ball to the banger, return it with pace to his feet, preferably on his non-dominant side. You can mix it up and occasionally loosen your grip, allowing the paddle to dissipate the energy of the ball so it drops over the net. Regardless, you need to return the banger's ball so he cannot bang it again.
I follow your videos and generally glean good info. However, just blocking a bang back (even these creampuff strikes) only tell the banger that I am not a threat so banger can keep banging.
@@PickleballKitchen elongated or fusion? I am roughly a 4.5 player. Pretty good combination of control and power. I play with the 6.0 dbd now. I like to be able to reset and want a nice sweet spot, so I am thinking control also but not sure about getting elongated. I also want to make sure I have good hand speed as well. I use to play with the Pro Drive paddle and liked that for the sweet spot and resets, volleys. By the way I really appreciate and like watching your videos. Thanks.
Fusion. You will have less hand speed with the elongated. In general, you should focus on whether you actually need the power or not and if you know for sure that it'll help out in some way. If not, of if you're unsure, just go with the fusion for the hand speed. I don't noticed any differences between sweetspots.
